Girls Soccer: Surprising Heritage Beats Riverbend in Penalty Kicks to Make AAA State Tournament

Big "Kick": Heritage senior Caitlin Kick's penalty kick seals the Pride's win over Riverbend Wed. in the Northwest Region semifinals

Click here to watch all the PKs from this overtime thriller

Leesburg (June 2, 2011) - They were picked to finish last their five-team district and they lost a regular season game by eight goals, but through it all the Heritage High School girls soccer team believed in themselves and they have now clinched a AAA state tournament bid with a dramatic Northwest Region semifinal win over Riverbend Wednesday in penalty kicks.

"We were told that we were going to be No. 5 and that kind of pushed us to get that high intensity and prove people wrong," said senior Caitlin Kick, who moments earlier had been mobbed by her teammates after converting a penalty kick that gave the Pride the 4-2 win. "My heart stopped, I was so excited ... I didn't expect us to make it this far."

More celebration shots from Heritage's win Wednesday!

The game played at Heritage had tied at 1-1 in regulation and through 20 minutes of overtime before heading to penalty kicks with each side getting five shots at the goal.

"As a goal keeper you never want to hear that you are going to penalty kicks because it is a 50-50 shot and you have the team on your back," said Heritage senior keeper Lauren Furtner. "You either do great or you do bad. We just performed out there."

While Heritage was making four of five of their penalty shots, Riverbend had their first attempt clang off the left post and then in the fourth round, a shot sailed high, setting up Kick's dramatic kick.

Heritage, which finished the regular season 8-6, improved now to 11-7 on the year and will travel to Cedar Run District foe Battlefield in the regional final Friday. It will be the fourth meeting this year for the two teams with Battlefield winning the first three: 5-1, 9-1 and 3-0.

"Fourth time is the charm!," joked both Furtner and Kick.

It appeared that the Pride wouldn't get another shot at the Bobcats as Riverbend broke a scoreless tie with just under 30 minutes left when Bears senior Taylor Oehm scored on a breakaway. The dangerous Oehm threatened all night to find the net and the Pride defense did a nice job of marking her.

With first-year Heritage coach Gabe Ascunce rallying his girls on the sidelines, asking them to believe that their season was not finished yet, the Pride evened things when senior Alex Mosley squeezed off a shot from the left sidelines that glanced off the Riverbend's keeper's hands and tuck inside the near post.

That goal with 19:40 left energized what had been a stalling Pride offensive attack and Heritage put the pressure on, especially in the final 10 minutes and even looked to have scored the go-ahead goal when sophomore Mackenzie Moore beat the keeper with a curving shot from the right side that looked as if it was gong across the line but the keeper was able to clear the ball before the officials deemed it had completely crossed the goal line.

Furtner and Kick said the team, which has six seniors but also has 10 sophomores and freshman, needed to come together and that team bonding sessions off the field helped their play on the field. Thursday night's at the Buffalo Wing Factory are now a must for the girls.

The mixture of experience and youth could be seen in Heritage's penalty kick line-up as senior Katie Harbolick started things off on the right foot and Kick was placed in the pressure cooker fifth spot. In between were two sophomores, Taylor Jones and Cass McKenzie, and a freshman, Megan Hannon.

Kick is the first to admit that she isn't a penalty kick specialists.

"I have never really taken them before," said Kick. "I just focus on the ball. I don't look at the keeper, I don't look at the net."

That strategy worked just fine Wednesday and, don't look now, but here come the Pride ... heading to the AAA girls soccer state tournament.

Seniors Lauren Furtner and Caitlin Kick postgame (sorry about the fuzzy quality, the darn VivaLoudoun Fox focused on the background and not the girls!)


Heritage Girls Soccer (11-7)
W at Fauquier 1-0
L at Handley 0-3
L Kettle Run 1-2
W at George Mason 3-0
W at Millbrook 3-0
W Loudoun Valley 6-3
L at Stone Bridge 0-3
W at Stonewall Jackson 2-0
W at Osbourn 3-1
L Battlefield 1-5
W Osbourn 4-3
L at Loudoun Valley 0-1
W Stonewall Jackson 5-1
L at Battlefield 1-9
W Osbourn 2-1*
L at Battlefield 0-3*
W at Patrick Henry 4-1**
W Riverbend 1-1 (5-3 on PKs)**

* Cedar Run tournament
** Northwest Region tournament